Uncle Walt had long searched for a strategy to maintain the cemetery. He tried to get Coover daughters and their families to commit to a plan. But to no avail. My dream when I got involved was to have a Kauffman event in Mechanicsburg and clean up the cemetery. But other than a few visits we made little progress.
Not withstanding my “effort”, someone initiated a project in about 2002 to get the local Boy Scouts to come in and clean things up. They did so with some result. But it did not last.
When I first visited Mechanicsburg following up on xxxxxxxxxxx plead to find Barbace, I drove up on a Saturday, looking to discover the Kauffman’s. In fact, within a short period, people had directed me to the homes of John Coover, Levi Kauffman, Andrew Kauffman and others. And they showed me where the Chestnut Hill Cemetery was located and of course the Coover Farm Cemetery. I took no pictures on that trip but several years later, my sister Nancy and I met at Mechanicsburg and went over to the cemetery. It was in terrible shape as shown by this picture.
It was so overgrown that we had to fight in order to get into the cemetery. At least we now knew that it still existed. The question was what to do next. As I mentioned, the Boy Scouts had a project to clean it up in 2002. While I had heard about it, I could find no evidence of it. I contacted the local Boy Scouts. As luck would have it, there was a young scout eager to earn his Eagle Scout badge and this project fit the requirements.
Sam Colosimo organized and managed the project bringing in a team of scouts, removing weeds, graveling areas, stacking stones, cutting down small trees and otherwise making the area presentable.
This video and the photographs below show the condition of the cemetery.
Sam and his team did an outstanding job, bringing in a team of scouts, removing weeds, graveling areas, stacking stones, cutting down small trees and otherwise making the area presentable.
The project was completed in the fall of 2017. The award ceremony was the following spring. Sam went on to secure his Eagle Scout badge. I was ill that winter and unable to participate.
I recently visited the cemetery in May of 2021. I found it in remarkable condition. I made a video and took some photographs.
What does the future hold for maintenance of the cemetery? We are fortunate in having Destin Coover, a local Cooverite who has taken the cemetery maintenance under his wing. But he is only one person. We need a plan for the long term maintenance. I will write about the Coover Farm Cemetery Trust in a separate section.